About us

The real deal

This is the part where on every other dog training, walking, pet service website you will see the company claiming to provide the best care, offer the best customer service, that they are insured, DBS/ police checked blah blah blah…..that’s basics! It’s minimum requirements. I’m not going to bore you with all of these claims.

What makes us different?

We will not leave your dog crossing its legs!

If we have team members off on holiday or with sickness, or even in the case of vehicle breakdown we always have someone (who you and your dog will have met) to step in, even at last minute.

Secure Exercise Area

Your dogs can enjoy a blast around our field in a safe and stress free environment, this is especially important if your dog cannot be let of lead on his normal walk.

11 years in Business

That’s over 4000 days caring for other people’s dogs of every size shape and colour you can imagine.

More than 132 months of building experience and knowledge, not just with dogs but in ways to reassure their owners that we really are the experts and their pets are in the best hands.

Award Winning

In 2008 just 18 months after Hound Helpers was born, we won a £5000 grant from NEM Enterprize. Organisations don’t tend to just hand out four figure grants without good reason!

We are straight talking

I have my Yorkshire roots to blame for calling a spade a spade. If your dog isn’t a good fit for our walks we will tell you, then you can find alternative care.

If your dog needs some extra help or training, we will tell you.

If your dog wasn’t 100% on his walk, you guessed it…we are going to tell you!

CPD

Constantly updating and building on our knowledge and experience through courses, books and study.

Legal Eagles

We are all up to date with current laws both nationally and locally in relation to dogs. There is a lot more legislation than most people realise.

Hound Hikes

Are you struggling to get your dog out on walks for lack of time, energy, your health or because of their bad behaviour?

We specialise in providing both physical and mental exercise for your dog to ensure their needs are met on both fronts, providing you with a calm and content hound to return home to.

​

Is Fido getting fidgety? Rex getting restless? Let us help, we can walk your dog(s) from your home at your convenience.

We guarantee they will have had a wonderful time for the time specified, and for your peace of mind you will receive a picture message of your dog having fun when out on his walk.

​

We are Police checked, highly trained and fully insured so you can be safe in the knowledge your dog and key are both very safe with us.

​

We also guarantee that even in the case of a vehicle breakdown, holiday or sickness that we won't leave your dog crossing its legs as we always have someone who can step in, someone who you have met in person and just as importantly who your dog knows and loves.

​

You will have the peace of mind that instead of him bounding around wanting a walk when you get home from a long day at work he will be tired and calm ready to curl up with you and relax.

​

We always train dogs to walk nicely with us as this makes for more enjoyable walks for both us and the dogs not to mention also preventing injury for the dogs (and us too of course). I must stress that you may not necessarily see an improvement in your dog’s lead walking with you because dogs learn by association and associate us with walking in a certain way.

That said, we do hear from clients on a regular basis saying how much their dog has improved on lead, or on lead when they pass or see other dogs.

​

Just like with our puppy visits we will not let them get into mischief or bad habits in our care, this is mainly through careful management, keeping an eye out for other dogs when on and off lead and rewarding them for all of their good behaviour.

​

We walk dogs of all shapes and sizes, ages and breeds and will never walk more than four dogs at a time out in the country, pavements or parks – when we do walk groups of dogs together it is only ever dogs that we have got to know over a long period of time, who we have trained to fairly high level and who are carefully selected to be compatible together. Often one or more of these dogs are our own dogs.

We tend to do most off lead walks away from large numbers of dogs, or busy footpaths as this reduces the risk of any harm coming to your dog from other dogs being walked by the public.

We are all trained in various methods to scare away any loose dogs that may cause harm to the dogs we are walking.

The safety and well-being of your pets is our priority at all times.

We are very fortunate to have the use of a secure area which we use for some walks, this means that we can occasionally walk

up to six dogs together (again carefully selected dogs), and let dogs who don't usually get to go off lead to have a good run and expend their built up energy. At the field we have a secure parking area, a hose pipe to wash muddy dogs off, and automatic ball launching machine, three paddling pools for the hot weather and agility equipment too!

​

We consistently hear glowing feedback from clients about how much more settled and happy their dog is since employing our services.

• 1x Hour Hound Hike £17

• 1x Hour Hound Hike for 2 Dogs £25

Pro-Active Puppy Visits

PupStar in the making

We offer the best puppy visit service to ensure your puppy is set up with the vital skills and training required to be a well behaved sociable dog in the future.

As well as play, feed and take your pup out to toilet, we train them too!

We cover all the basic commands, and train your puppy to walk nicely on the lead and interact with other dogs correctly. Now this does not mean you can just leave it to us to train your puppy, but we will not let them get into mischief or bad habits whilst in our care and do our upmost to improve any training you have done. All five of us are usually involved in puppy visits, as the more people that are training your puppy the more they will accept that that’s how they have to behave with everybody, not just us and you as owners but also visitors etc. Training is an excellent way to tire your puppy out - at a young age we are mindful that you can over exercise them and so do a mixture of walking, playing, feeding if required and training appropriate to age, size and breed. Puppies get priority for times with lunchtime visits as we understand their little bladders can’t hang on for too long.

​

To get the most out of our Pro-Active Puppy Visits we advise having us from before 12weeks and to sign up for the Puppy Training Package - See our training page for more details.

​

Our training package can be used in conjunction with other training classes.

​

30 Minute Visit £15

​

1 Hour Visit £25

Once your puppy has reached 10-12 months of age they can be moved onto the lower dog walking price and will be carefully integrated into group walks, with extra care being take to train them to still come when called with the distraction of other dogs and to walk on lead nicely with the other dogs also.

Feisty Fido to Sociable Softy

One on One Time

Does your pet need more personalized attention? Do they have trouble getting along with others? Training or Solo walks are great options for those cuddly buddies who can get a bit defensive around others. As we spend more time outside with them, your pet will become more comfortable with being around other animals.

Mission Statement

why and how we do what we do!

It’s our Canine Enrichment Team’s mission to fulfil your dog’s needs on our Hikes, so they can leave your dog relaxed and content when they’re returned them safely to the comfort of their home. We provide the correct exercise, stimulation and fun on our awesome adventures for your high energy breed.

We play games to build focus, work on impulse control and scent games as well as exercise them to tire them out! By completing our mission and giving your dog the adventure they need, it will help prevent your dog becoming bored and destructive when left home, which stops you returning home to an upturned bin or chewed carpet!

Our exceptional Hound Hiker team will take care of your dog as if they are our own on our small group walks, so that we can ensure they have all the attention, affection, interaction and play they need.

WHY CHOOSE US?

Your dogs supreme care starts before we even collect them from your home. At the beginning of each adventure day, we do a 10-point check to ensure only the best for your dog

Vehicles are in excellent working condition, so we can transport your dog safely from your home to their adventure.

Vehicles are clean and tidy for your dog’s comfort

First aid kits are complete

Clean towels packed for muddy paws

Dog poop bags are packed

Treats are stocked up

Clean water bowls and fresh water

Keys are kept safe and secure

Spare leads & long-lines are in

We are ready and set for an awesome day with your dog for their Hound Hike with us!

When we collect your dog from their home in our dog collection vehicles and we run a check over your dog to ensure they are fit and well for their adventure with us.

They are then driven safely and securely in cages to the beginning of their adventure – which may be a woodland ramble, an urban excursion, activities & games at our secure and enclosed paddock or a countryside trek.

We vary our walks and routes, to ensure they get to use all of their senses, especially their smell and sight in new environments.

Their adventure starts when they arrive at the location, not when they are collected from your home!

What happens during an adventure with your Hound Hiker team? We socialise the dogs on our small group walks with each other to help you have a well balanced dog, but they don’t spend the whole time playing directly with them.

Why do we do this?

This has massive benefits for you, as your dog will be well socialised on our Hound Hikes but won’t want to run off and play with every dog he sees one on your walks!

Instead we mix into the adventures games and training and work on:

Focus so we can keep your dogs safe

Recall so we don’t have dogs who run off

Impulse Control

Play games with a ball, play chase and have fun!

On our group Hound Hikes we only take a maximum of 4 dogs out in public or 6 dogs if at our enclosed Paddock to ensure the individual dogs get the attention they each require and this is only when it’s suitable for all dogs involved.

At the end of all of our Hound Hikes, we scatter feed food into grass – we do this as it gets them to use their nose searching for the food in the grass and provides mental stimulation at the end of the adventure. It will also in turn will help bring down their arousal levels after the super exciting walk with us.

Your dog will have another check over after their adventure, cleaned down with towels if needed and provided with fresh water.

If you want your dog to go to a dog walker or day care to spend their time every day just playing with other dogs, then we are not for you.

There is no adventure playing in the same field day after day, and we only do adventures we don’t offer dog walks.

What can happen if you allow your dog to play like this?

It will more than likely make them dog obsessed, they will spend their time hunting out other dogs on your walks and they just want to chase, chase, chase! This may in turn mean he will start to pull on a lead, run away from you on your walks to the other dogs and generally be a blooming nightmare to walk.